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Baseball’s system of expanded September rosters needs to be changed: Griffin

Note to Rob Manfred, Mr. Commissioner, we have a problem. While the new commish talks about length of games and increasing offence as the major concerns for his sport, the fact is baseball’s current system of expanded 40-man rosters for September is antiquated, out of step and needs to be modified.

Every year, for the final month of the regular season — often the most important month — teams are allowed to promote all members on their 40-man rosters for the final 25 to 30 games. In tight pennant and wild-card races, the sudden and wildly varying injection of depth and talent changes the dynamic and, often, the final year-end results.

For instance, the Blue Jays salvaged their one win in Tampa against the Rays with a comeback 5-3 decision Sunday. The key was a September call-up, pinch-runner Dalton Pompey, who replaced designated hitter Dioner Navarro. He stole second and then distracted reliever Kevin Jepsen to the point he grooved a 3-0 pitch to Russell Martin, who swatted it into the seats for the game winner.

For instance, the Yankees won Game 2 of their series against the Jays in the Bronx this week with manager Joe Girardi utilizing seven relief pitchers to record the last 11 outs. The Bombers are carrying 17 active pitchers this month and Girardi likes to use them all.

Fact is, the September expanded roster concept is antiquated and unnecessary. When the rule was first introduced to Major League Baseball in the 1920s, there were no real farm systems and just one pennant winner in each league. Usually 11 to 13 of the 16 existing teams were simply playing out the string in any given year.

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There were no fall leagues, and no permanent spring training facilities. Basically there was nowhere to send those extra players on a club’s roster once the few minor leagues had wrapped their schedules. So all 16 teams agreed that the entire roster (35 at the time) could be brought up to the majors, to play in mostly meaningless games, for executives to see what talent they had in preparation for next year and so maybe the current major-leaguers didn’t get too comfortable.

Fast forward to the current, highly competitive MLB races. In both leagues, there were 18 of 30 teams that exited the Labour Day weekend within six games of a wild-card berth. The contenders now have the uneven luxury of expanded rosters, counting on players who did nothing to get them to this point and that may have no role in October if they do reach the playoff dance floor.

Consider the 10 clubs that are AL contenders are carrying between a minimum of 31 active players (the Orioles and Mariners) and up to 34 (Jays, Red Sox, Astros and Tigers). Meanwhile, the Indians are disadvantaged because their top farm teams — Triple-A Columbus and Double-A Akron — are currently in minor-league playoffs. Surely, they have talent at those levels that could be used to win games in the majors, but how much do they owe fans and ownership in those minor-league cities to keep winning?

So here’s a suggestion to correct the problem that would add the element of strategy for the contending major-league teams, with spirited fan discussion and second-guessing, which has become a sport unto itself on social media:

Revised Expanded Roster Rule: Three hours prior to every post-Sept. 1 contest, the manager must designate a 29-man active roster, adding four players from among his call-ups. Each team’s 25-man roster as of midnight, Aug. 31 remains active for every September game. The extra men can be position players or pitchers, but cannot replace a 25-man roster player unless he is officially placed on the 15-day disabled list. That means if a 25-man roster player is put on the DL, he may miss a round of the post-season and only be activated at the start of a new series.

Result: This would bring strategy into the equation, especially in the bullpen, where if you had a game the night before with six relievers being used, you could activate two to three fresh relievers for the next night. If one of your position players is banged up, you activate a player at that position. But mistakes are possible.

The current system is unfair, but the Players’ Association likes it because it gives jobs and service time to more players. The teams like it because it gives them a boost of talent on the final month at a minimal cost. But both sides can remain satisfied and fairness can be maintained, even with the suggested changes.

In the meantime, pennant races are altered by roster rules that were outdated years ago. But baseball has never been ruled by logic.

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